


Charity and Kindness

by WhatButAVillain



Series: The Seven Virtues of Heaven [1]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Archangels are the Seven Heavenly Virtues, Dukes of Hell are the Seven Deadly Sins, Gen, Virtues and Sins have embodiments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 22:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19876924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatButAVillain/pseuds/WhatButAVillain
Summary: For the Tadfield-Advertiser Prompt.After the apple incident kicks off time, the first being to show one of the seven heavenly virtues became the embodiment of that virtue. For example the first ever act of Charity in the history of the world was when a certain Angel gave away a sword and thus became Charity. Too bad the heavenly host didn't realize it at the time, nor did the Angel in question.Aziraphale is the virtue of charity but does not know it.https://tadfield-advertiser.dreamwidth.org/517.html?thread=280581&posted=1#cmt313605





	Charity and Kindness

“Don’t bother to thank me, just take it and go.” The angel said handing over the flaming sword despite the fears in his heart at what the Almighty would say when she found out. And so the humans took the sword and left out the Eastern gate of Eden and into the world outside. The angel watched them go never noticing the disturbance in the Ethereal Plane. Later would find the angel sitting on the top of the Gate as the serpent came up behind him. 

“That went down like a lead balloon.” said the demon turning from a serpent into a man and standing beside the fretting angel. The angel, whose face had been turned down in a frown of worried contemplation, did a double take, then a triple take before answering the demon.

“I’m sorry. What was that?” He asked again making sure to pay attention this time. 

“I said, ‘That went down like a lead balloon.’” Said the demon. 

“Oh, yes. Rather.” The angel replied. 

“I can’t see what so bad about knowing the difference between Good and Evil anyways” The demon confided. 

“Well, it must be bad,” the angel paused not knowing how to address the demon.

“Crawley,” the demon helpfully introduced himself. 

“Crawley,” the angel repeated committing the name to memory. “Uh...otherwise, you wouldn’t have tempted them into it.”

“Didn’t you have a flaming sword?” the demon asked in confusion, staring at the angel’s belt where a sword would usually be kept and missing the expression of fear that passed over the angel’s face. “You did. It flamed like anything.” Finally looking up he saw the uncomfortable look on the angel’s face. “Lost it already, have you?”

“I...gave it away.” The angel muttered under his breath. 

“You what?” the demon asked. 

“I gave it away.” the angel almost shouted earning a softening look from the demon. “It’ll be cold, and there are vicious animals out there. And she’s expecting already.” The angel looked miserable. “So I told them, look don’t bother to thank me just take it and go. I hope I didn’t do the wrong thing.”

“Oh, you’re an angel I don’t think you can do the wrong thing.” Crawley assured him not liking the look on the angel’s face. And neither noticed a change in the ethereal plane.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Aziraphale, I know why our Dukes are the Dukes of Hell but who in their right mind put those people in charge of Heaven?” Crowley slurred drunkenly after they had managed to avoid the wrath of both Heaven and Hell in the wake of the Armegedidn’t. 

“Well, everyone really. I think.” Aziraphale answered him slouching down at the other end of the sofa with their legs entwined between them. “Not, a...an...an elece...a vote but they are the Virtues. They jus...jus sorta became the Archangels too.” 

“Those are your Virtues?” Crowley said sitting up and then slouching back into the arm of the sofa. “That was only four.”

“Sandalphon’s an enforcer not an archangel. Three. Raphael and Azriel don’t bother much with the running of the hosts or what’s happening on Earth so I don’t answer to them...usually. Raphael turned down a spot in the top offices and Azriel...well Azriel dislikes conflict as much as we do. He was considered too soft by Gabriel, Uriel and Michael. And he was probably outvoted.” Aziraphale replied sullenly. 

“That’s still only…” Crowley paused a moment to count them out on the fingers holding his wine glass and almost spilling it. “Five. Where’re the other two?”

“Dunno. No one does. Charity and Kindness. No one knows who they are. Hardly knew who the Five were at first too. But their powers got a boost...big boost. And they gained a few extra wings. About a bajillion eyes. Real...real eldritch horror stuff. Not like most of us, still mostly man-shaped. Or...or...serpent-shaped.” He corrected at Crowley’s glare. 

“Yeah...Yeah show me yours and I’ll...I’ll show you mine.” Crowley challenged swaying in place not so much like a threatening snake but more a toddler trying to stay upright before learning to walk. 

“No. no.nononononononono...alright.” Aziraphale said. “But you asked for it.” A pause as he sat up. “But let’s sober up for this.”

“Yeah...Alright.” Crowley said as they both concentrated very hard to will the alcohol out of their systems and back into the scattered bottles. They both grimaced and smacked their lips at the taste left behind by three bottles of red and two bottles of white wine suddenly leaving your system.

“Alright. Now...are you sure about this, my dear? Taking away the human bodies we wear could overwhelm each other.” Aziraphale said sitting back up and regretfully disentangling his legs from Crowley’s.

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m sure. I want to see you angel. In all your holy glory.” Crowley told him earnestly. 

“Alright but fair is fair. You have to show me yours too. Together?”

“Together.” Crowley nodded. 

And taking a deep breath and closing their eyes, both beings began to shift and change. First came the wings that took a strangely long time than what they were expecting. And then the pinpricks of decorative circles growing into great glowing eyes and halos of holy and infernal fire encircling their heads giving off not heat but a sense of peace or foreboding. The development of more eyes and mouths and noses in different forms. Of skin and scales and feathers growing and receding. By the time they felt the full unfurling of their ethereal and occult powers all faces were tight with confusion at the length of time it took.

Blinking open their eyes both Aziraphale and Crowley’s mouths dropped open in shock and awe. Aziraphale pulled himself together first and with a trembling hand reached out to touch the side of Crowley’s startled faces. He had not just his usual face full of black iridescent scales but the form of a snake draped around his neck and shoulders both separate and yet irrevocably entwined with his own being. Both bodies were covered in glowing eyes much like his usual snake eyes but giving off an infernal glow and wings upon wings two, six, twelve pairs of wings brushing through the backroom there and yet disturbing not a single item, black as night but shining in the bright lights of their halos with color. The skin of his neck was looser and capable of being spread out in a hood which he did in pleasure at the angel’s touch revealing a great eye on the back of his hood that blinked once before stilling. “Beautiful,” Aziraphale whispered. 

At Aziraphale’s tenuous touch, Crowley gave a full body shudder and with a deep breathe closed and reopened his eyes. “You…” Crowley whispered his hands reaching but not daring to touch the angel. His eyes drinking in the sight of Aziraphale with feathers growing in patches on his skin and eyes ranging in color from the bright blue of a clear summer’s day to the cloudy grey of a great storm cloud about the burst it’s seams to let loose a deluge of rain. His four faces, ox, lion, eagle, and man peering around the room in awestruck silence. His own twelve pairs of great white wings stretching into innumerable space shimmering in pale iridescent pastels. Aziraphale just takes Crowley’s reaching hands into his own and brings them up to his face to press them against his cheeks.

“I’m feeling not quite myself, my dear.” Aziraphale says and his voice echoed through the room and through a not quite space that reverberated through Crowley’s being. “That took much longer than it should have.”

Crowley let loose a strangled laugh. “I know. Same with me.” And the rumble of his voice caused clouds to form and the heat to rise and ripples through not quite space. “Are you supposed to have twelve pairs of wings?”

Aziraphale’s eyes widen in shock and he looks around at himself for the first time. He lets loose a squeak of surprise before turning back to an amused Crowley. “What about you? Do you usually have twelve pairs of wings too?” His words wipe the amused smirk off Crowley’s face as he finally turns back to himself. 

“Oh no.” Crowley muttered

“Oh yes. I think we found the missing Virtues.” Aziraphale told him nodding his head.

“That’s impossible, I’m a demon. I can’t be Virtue.” Crowley hissed. Turning in a circle to try to see the whole expanse of his wings spread out on the Ethereal Plane.

“Angels. Demons. Just names for sides after all, remember? No one but the Virtues look like this. Unless you think you’re some eighth Sin?” Aziraphale asked him smugly.

“Could be. I heard tell of an Eighth Sin called Despair at one point.” 

“My dear, you are many things but not Despair. If anything you would be Hope.” Aziraphale told him truthfully.

“Stop making me seem good. I’m a demon.” Just like that a metaphorical light flickered above his head. “We have to tell Gabriel.”

“We have to never tell Gabriel.” Aziraphale replied aghast. 

“Oh come on angel! Just think of what he would say if he knew he almost killed one of the Virtues.” Crowley said, wheedling. “You can’t tell me you don’t want to see his face when he finds out you are one of his fellows. He can’t order you around like that.”

“They are not going to be ordering me around anymore, you made sure of that in Heaven when you breathed fire at them.” Aziraphale protested but it sounded weak even to his own ears. Gabriel’s attitude had been a source of contention for ages, literally, but Aziraphale had always defended if not the attitude than the man it belonged to. 

“Aziraphale!” Rang out from the front of the store before either of the two confused entities could continue their debate. 

“Uh oh.” Crowley said but it was too late, five angels had made their way into the back room and stopped dead in their tracks. 

“Gabriel. Uriel. Michael. Raphael. Azriel. What brings all of you here to my humble store?” Aziraphale made the decision to ignore whatever was happening with himself and Crowley and he was going to stick to it.

“We sensed Virtue, Aziraphale. And came to welcome our sibling to our ranks. We were not expecting to find both of you.” Azriel told him patiently. 

“No. No. I refuse to believe that these two are Virtues. The one is a demon for Heaven’s sake.” Gabriel burst out, his face flushed and eyes hard. 

“Gabriel.” Michael started. 

“No. I will not accept that this traitor and a demon embody any of our Virtues.” Gabriel insisted. 

“You can not defy the Will of God, Gabriel. When Crowley showed me Kindness on the walls of Eden, He became Kindness and has been doing little kindnesses for many people myself included over the years ever since the beginning. How dare you think that you can rewrite the Will of God.” Aziraphale bit out, his words ringing through the backroom, through the Heavens, and through the Ethereal Plane making the other angels stagger at it’s force. 

Crowley swallowed thickly. “And who else but Charity would give away a Heavenly artifact to protect the humans from the dangers of the world outside the Garden despite knowing the trouble he would be in for it. Even from God Herself. Self-sacrificial giving of the self. I don’t know anyone else who embodies it half so well as Aziraphale. And you tried to kill him.”

“Kill?” Raphael asked shocked. 

“Yes, These three with their little enforcer Sandalphon struck up a deal with Hell. Hellfire to kill Aziraphale and Holy water to destroy me.” Crowley told them coldly earning Gabriel and the others a disapproving frown from Raphael and Azriel.

“I see. Perhaps it’s time we took a more active role in our duties, Azriel.” Raphael said still glaring at Gabriel. 

“It would seem so.” Azriel agreed also glaring at the other three Virtues. “As for you two,” He added turning to smile gently at the angel and demon still in their full Ethereal glory. “We may need you for some decision but from what I have heard…”

“We chose Earth. Now and Always. Anything that is for the good of the Earth and the Humans.” Aziraphale interrupted him. “We aren’t leaving it. We just want to live our lives down here.”

“I see. We may contact you for a vote but we will try our best to honor your wishes, Charity, Kindness.” So saying Azriel and Raphael exchange a glance and then shepherd the other three downtrodden angels out of the bookshop and back up to Heaven.

“Well,” Crowley said slouching back into his chair, “That went unexpectedly well. Where were we?” He asked reaching out his hands for Aziraphale again. 

“Crowley.” Aziraphale admonished taking his questing hands into his own with a smile. 


End file.
